“But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind” (James 1.6 NLT).
Paul discusses putting on the full Armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-17. These verses are so important because they hold God’s promises for our protection and victory. We have the Shield of Faith which is our first line of defense. We have the Belt of Truth which allows us to walk in our true identity in Christ. We have the Breastplate of Righteousness which protects our hearts. We have the Gospel Shoes of Peace which allows us to walk in peace no matter the difficult circumstances or difficult people in our path. We also have the Sword of the Spirit which empowers us to take down the enemy with the promises found in God’s Word, the Bible, and the promises the Holy Spirit gives us personally.
The next piece of Armor of God is the Helmet of Salvation which protects our minds from the enemy’s lies, deceit and attacks, especially when we lack faith and/or our faith has been shaken by a spiritual battle related to people and circumstances. Our Shields of Faith should always be our first line of defense, but sometimes our faith waivers or can be crushed for a time. That is why renewing our minds in Christ with the Helmet of Salvation is imperative. Our minds are being rescued from the ill effects of an unfair world as we capture, process, organize and dispose of unwanted thoughts. However, we must take time out of our busy schedules to enter into a time of introspection and meditation. King David had loads of time to think while tending his father’s sheep, going back and forth from his sheep to Israel’s war with the Philistines. Maybe that is why David could say with confidence to the Giant Goliath: “David replied to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied'” (1 Samuel 17.45 NLT). David had time to process the situation and align his thoughts with God’s thoughts of favor and victory, and he acted on them by destroying the enemy (1 Samuel 17).
Also, the Bible says that we have the Mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2.16). We can use this promise to ensure our thoughts and imaginings don’t spiral out of control because of fear, shame, suspicion, pride, lust, etc. But how do we renew our minds? Is it easy? I wish the answer were yes, but it takes effort and discipline to renew our minds. Knowing we have the Mind of Christ does nothing unless we activate that knowledge with consistent habits of “capturing every thought” and aligning our minds with God and heaven (2 Corinthians 10.5). We have to understand how to “put on the helmet” daily (Proverbs 4.20-22). The Holy Spirit can guide us. We can read books and find mentors who are heavenly minded. Sometimes, when our faith has been cut so deep, we may need to seek medical and therapeutic help for a season.
Plus, we must be able to disquinishing between God’s thoughts, the enemy’s thoughts and our thoughts. The more information we consume daily, the more our minds will have to process, especially when we are bombarding our minds with a flood of entertainment. The more movies, reels, books, videos, songs, etc. our minds consume, the more our minds will have to filter through the information. There is nothing wrong with entertainment, but too much and not enough time in quiet contemplation (like David tending his father’s sheep) tasks our brains with a lot of work processing a minutia of details, which — if we are constantly distracted — may have to be done while we are sleeping and can hinder restful sleep.
We absolutely need time every day to allow our minds to rest from constant info-dumps. Just think of the Helmet of Salvation saving us from a bombardment of inconsequential information that doesn’t add to our relationship with God, our destiny or our maturity in Christ. On the other hand, consuming information that edifies our lives of faith can be very beneficial at pushing out the useless informations and shaping us into the image of Christ (Romans 13.14). Instead of clicking a a social media site, we can click on a Bible app instead. Or we can put our phones in another room and simply sit quietly in the presence of God and listen for His voice (Psalm 62.5)
Finally, the Helmet of Salvation is a free gift. If we trust in it. Believe it in. Keep our faith in its protective presence, we can simply tell the enemy to back off. Jesus saved our minds by His Finished Work on the Cross. The enemy has no authority to enter our minds because they have been bought and covered by Jesus’ blood (1 Corinthians 6.20 & 1 John 1.7). We can imagine the enemy’s lies just bouncing off our impenetrable God-forged Helmets. The imagination can be a powerful tool. We can take time today to align our thoughts with heaven, push out the enemy’s lies with God’s Truth found in His Word and imagine the enemy’s arrows bouncing off our helmets like twigs breaking to the ground in a sudden breeze of faith.
- Take time to be alone
- Consume less trivial information
- Meditate on God’s Word and resources for your destiny
- Imagined lies bouncing off your Helmet of Salvation
- Regain your Shield of Faith
“For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” – Corinthians 2.16 (NKJV).
“We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 10.5 (NLT)
“My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.” – Proverbs 4.20-22 (NIV)
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” – Romans 13.14 (NKJV)
“Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.” – Psalm 65.5 (NLT)
“You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honor and glorify God with your body.” – 1 Corinthians 6.20 (AMP)
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” – 1 John 1.7 (NKJV)
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